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Paeonia clusii
Clusius' Peony is a low, perennial herbaceous peony from Crete, Karpathos and Rhodes, grown for its scented white or pink flowers in mid-spring. The key to growing it is well-drained soil, since it dislikes wet roots.
Paeonia clusii is a relatively low (25–50 cm) species of herbaceous peony with scented, white or pink flowers of up to 12 cm in diameter. In the wild, the species can only be found on the islands of Crete and Karpathos (subsp. clusii), and Rhodes (subsp. rhodia). It has pinkish-purple stem up to 30 cm long and glaucous dissected leaves. P. clusii blooms in mid-spring.
Rhodes' peony likes well-drained, loamy soil or compost. It's hardy in the UK, but because it starts growing in late winter the leaves may be damaged by frosts. As can be expected from a plant from the Mediterranean, they suffer from wet soil.
The typical subspecies grows in maquis on limestone between 200–1900 m elevation. Subspecies rhodia occurs as undergrowth of pines at an elevation of 350–850 m.
Algerian Peony · Anomalous Peony · Paeonia arietina · Paeonia broteri · Brown's peony · California peony · Paeonia cambessedesii · Paeonia coriacea · Paeonia corsica · Paeonia daurica subsp. macrophylla · Paeonia daurica subsp. mlokosewitschii · Crimean Peony
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Paeonia clusii by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
